Liberal or conservative? Gender, identity, and perception of historical religious positions

Conservatism is often assumed to imply a continuity of values and positions between past and present. Previous research has demonstrated, however, that there are discontinuities between historical and contemporary political conservatism and that modern political conservatives endorse programs and legislation once regarded as liberal. Testing whether the same pattern may hold for religious conservatism was the purpose of this research. Perceptions of conservative positions in Christian history were assessed among young adults (N = 221). Results showed that individuals who identified themselves as conservatives were less likely to recognize past conservative positions on religious issues than individuals who identified themselves as liberals. These findings were not accounted for by lack of knowledge about religious history on the part of conservatives. Furthermore, women were more likely than men to accurately identify conservative and liberal positions of the past. The findings suggest that religious conservatism, like political conservatism, does not necessarily involve a continuity of positions between past and present.